The Way
By Kate Everson
Smashwords edition
Copyright 2012 Kate Everson
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Rebecca called through the long, dark cave, but no one answered. She kept walking, stumbling on coarse dirt and jagged stones. A shadow hugged the wall and seemed to follow her.
"Am I lost?" she asked herself, her lower lip trembling. She pulled her thin sweater tighter and tried to be brave. But she was just a small girl, slight for her 16 years, and had no experience finding her way alone.
Raised with an overprotective mother and an overbearing father and way too many siblings, she was always shooed along in the direction of the crowd. Dinner was on and you'd better eat it or go hungry. Wear these clothes, because that's all you have. Go here, do that. Rebecca had no time to assert herself or even find out who she was inside.
And now, here she was, abandoned in the middle of nowhere and not a clue about how to get by on her own.
"I'm not lost," she told herself, peering into the darkness. "I just need to calm down and surely something will turn up. Someone will find me and guide me home."
But no one came. No one answered her feeble call. All she heard was the wind wailing in the canyon. The sun had set long ago. She had hoped to get back to the parking lot before it got dark, but with these hills the night was upon her before she knew it.
"If only I had stayed with the group," she told herself. "If only, I had done what I was told. But for once, I wanted to do it on my own. Now I have really screwed up."
But that didn't help her now. She was in the canyons without a tour guide.
Rebecca walked quickly but she had no sense of direction and kept coming back to the same place.
"Going in circles," she said. "I have been doing that all my life."
Rebecca sat down and sobbed her heart out. She was afraid. But no one could hear her and nobody even knew she was out there.
A wild dog, or maybe a coyote, howled in the distance. The sound sent shivers up her spine. She stopped crying and forced herself to take stock of what was going on. She couldn't just sit here.
It was a long walk out, she knew that. But even if it had been a short distance, she would never find it in the dark. She had to find shelter.
Rebecca found a tree that had blown over in the wind and curled up in the exposed roots. It wasn't much, but it was something.
She knew she wouldn't sleep much that night, but she was prepared to hunker down into the dirt and cover herself with whatever she could find.
She stared out into the darkness, and could see shadows moving in the wind. Then she heard it, a small voice very close to her left ear.
"I know the way," it said.
She could see nothing. But then something crept up on her shoulder and whispered in her ear again, "I know the way."
She was scared and leaped up, trying to wipe off whatever creature was talking to her.
"Rebecca," it squeaked.
She screamed.
Then she saw him. A little creature with long feet and green skin. It winked at her.
"I know the way home, Rebecca," it grinned.
"You do?" she shrieked. "And who are you?"
It jumped around the tiny shelter and laughed.
"Hello, it's me," it sang. "And who is me? Well, who are you?"
The green creature jumped up on a root and stared at her. Its eyes seemed to bug right out like a frog.
"I'm not following you anywhere until you tell me who you are! " Rebecca exclaimed.
It jumped up on her nose. She tried to swat it off but it hung on tight with its sticky hands and feet. She went cross-eyed trying to see it. That made the creature laugh even more.
"Oh ho!" it yelled, and leaped down to the ground. It began to dance. Its little legs twirled around faster and faster until it was a whirling blur.
"Stop! Stop!" cried Rebecca. "You're making me dizzy!"
"Well, that's better," the creature smiled, and snuggled up in her arms. He was kind of damp and creepy, like a reptile, with a few, stray hairs coming out of his body in various places. Not the prettiest face she had ever seen. Definitely the most peculiar.
"All right, then," she said quietly, hoping to talk some sense into it. "What do you want? And can you get me home?"
The creature perked up its long pointy ears.
"Home?" he asked. "You want to go home? Now? But we were just getting to know each other!"
And he leaped down and did another dance. Only this time he bowed at the end.
"Rebecca," he said in a soft, imploring tone. "Rebecca, my sweet? "
Rebecca had enough. She kicked the creature and ran off into the dark night. Anything was better than this!
She ran and ran until she could not run any more. Then she stopped. She was in the middle of a desert. The stars overhead were brilliant. She lay back in the sand and stared at them.
She saw a falling star. Then another. And another. The whole sky was full of falling stars, shooting through the blackness.
One star seemed to land very close to Rebecca.
She sat bolt upright. The star was actually a spaceship and out of it crawled several small creatures, just like the one she had just met!
"Oh my gosh!" she gasped.
The creatures came over to her and studied her. One poked at her ear. Another touched her hair. A tiny one tickled her feet.
That made her laugh. She couldn't stop laughing. She laughed so hard she rolled on the sand over and over. The little creature would not stop tickling. The others joined in, tickling her everywhere.
"Stop!" she cried. "Stop!"
So they stopped. Rebecca lay on the sand and the creatures sat all over her. One sat on her neck. Another curled around her feet. One wrapped itself in her long brown hair and peered out with a devilish grin.
She sat up. Then they formed a circle around her. The big one asked the question. "Do you want to go home? We can show you the way."
"Yes!" Rebecca shouted. "Yes! Show me the way!"
And so they all formed a long line, hanging onto each other's tiny waist. The last one reached back for Rebecca. She grabbed on and went for a ride. They snaked through the dessert until the little one got tired and began to cry. A hasty discussion at the front with the elders changed the course of direction. This time they went up. The tiny one hung on, and Rebecca grabbed on tight.
They soared into the twinkling sky and whirled round and round, through the misty clouds and out again, trailing puffs of fluff with them.
"Wheeee!" the little one yelled. Stephanie joined him. "Wahoooo!"
This was a lot more fun than shivering in a cave.
When they had soared over the desert for 12 miles, they landed on top of the hotel where Rebecca was staying. She let go, and waved good-bye as they flew away. She crawled back down the fire escape and found her own room and curled up in her nice warm bed, content.
The next day at breakfast some members of the group asked her where she had disappeared to yesterday.
"I got lost," she said simply, with a mysterious smile.
"Oh no!" her friend exclaimed. "How did you find your way back?"
Rebecca tilted back her head and laughed.
"I followed the aliens!" she said. "They carried me home!"
Her friend looked at her like she had lost her mind.
"Too much tequila?" she suggested.
Rebecca smiled.
"Sometimes you just have to trust someone," she said. "When you're scared, the best thing is to just surrender to whatever makes you laugh."
And then she felt something tickle her foot. She looked down and there he was, the tiniest creature of all. He gave her a little wink, then disappeared. All that was left was a sparkle in her eyes. And it lasted a lifetime.
The End
Read more stories at: Rebekah and the Celtic Gods, and Rebekah and the Green Man.